Podcasts about akasaka

Join us for a 4K Progressive House DJ set recorded on a rooftop building in Akasaka, Tokyo. This set is very special, as it took multiple attempts to capture. A lot of people were involved in making the vision of this set a reality, and each of you is appreciated for your contribution. Don't forget to subscribe to our channel and hit the notification bell for more exclusive content. Youtube link to the Set: https://youtu.be/npFf4VSSnWY Follow SETS FROM Youtube: https://bit.ly/3vGqOhw Soundcloud: https://bit.ly/44zeBYi Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/43GhOUA Executive Producer: 10X Media Produced by: Metacogvzn & 10X Media

「【10/8開催】東京・赤坂からサーキュラーシティの未来像を模索するカンファレンス＆ツアー「Akasaka Circular City Conference & Tourism」」　【10/8 参加者募集中】グローバルとローカルの視点から循環都市・東京の未来を模索し、国際連携のきっかけを生み出すカンファレンス＆ツアーを開催します！The post 【10/8開催】東京・赤坂からサーキュラーシティの未来像を模索するカンファレンス＆ツアー「Akasaka Circular City Conference & Tourism」 first appeared on サステナビリティ・ESG金融・投資メディア - HEDGE GUIDE.

「【10/8開催】東京・赤坂からサーキュラーシティの未来像を模索するカンファレンス＆ツアー「Akasaka Circular City Conference & Tourism」」　【10/8 参加者募集中】グローバルとローカルの視点から循環都市・東京の未来を模索し、国際連携のきっかけを生み出すカンファレンス＆ツアーを開催します！The post 【10/8開催】東京・赤坂からサーキュラーシティの未来像を模索するカンファレンス＆ツアー「Akasaka Circular City Conference & Tourism」 first appeared on IDEAS FOR GOOD.

We reach the climax of Himatsubushi. Akasaka, fresh off his fight with the kidnappers, is prevented from contacting his wife by Rika, acting even stranger than before. She tells him a vision of the already decided future, and looks to him to see what he might say. How will Akasaka respond? What secrets still remain in Hinamizawa? What should have happened differently? The Question Arcs conclude, when the Higurashi cry...

In Part One, we looked at some of the elements we need to be working on in providing excellent customer service, and so now let's continue. 1. Friendly This would seem to be a very basic requirement in customer service, but often the wrong people are placed in these roles and many of them don't like people.  Even those who do like people can suffer brutal invective from irate customers and this can impinge on their joy for the work.  In Japan, the land of the “customer is God”, we now see legislation against harassment of workers by customers.  Dogeza is where you get down on your knees and bow by putting your head on the floor and is the ultimate sign of apology in Japan.  In Chinese culture, we know it as the ‘kowtow”.  Angry customers have been known to force staff to do the dogeza to apologise for the unsatisfactory service they have provided. It would be very hard to be friendly after being put through that experience.  Japan is catching up in this regard and these types of outbursts will reduce as the system stops tolerating unbridled rage by customers. 2. Develop loyal fans This is related to being friendly. The idea is to not just provide a great one-off service, but to enroll the customers as repeaters and make them loyal fans.  All sales should have this as the goal.  In Japan, though, we receive aloof, but polite service.  Those serving see their role in the dimension of providing the good or service, and that is it.  There are very few cases where the person serving is trying to establish a connection with the customer and encourage them to come back.  Maybe they think that is the job of the marketing department and nothing to do with them. There are many instances where I frequent the same establishment, but the service is never personalised.  It is efficient and polite, but impersonal. I am treated just like everyone else, and there is no recognition that you are a regular.  Notable exceptions would be Ali Bab and Lindo near my office in Akasaka, Shinsen Hanten in Nagatocho and Elios Locanda in Hanzomon, but they are rare cases. How hard is it to recognise regulars?  Not very.  All the staff have to do is say “thank you for coming back, what can I do for your today”.  I love Princi from Milano in T-Site in Daikanyama, go there very regularly and five years later, I am still waiting for the day they recognise me as a loyal customer. Obviously, in most cases, there is no training or guidance for this, so it is always by the manual and we the customer are left feeling flat.  3. Immediately responsive Customers are all busy all the day long and they hate wasting their valuable time.  Service provision, which is slow or late, is particularly a problem in this high-speed world we inhabit today.  When there are problems, we want them fixed fast because we are losing time by not having the good or service work as we expected.  I ordered some deodorant on Amazon and was contacted by Japan Post to tell me the package was wet, which meant there had been some interior damage.  I went online and registered a problem and I was very happy to immediately hear from the supplier that they would refund my money and they told me to not accept the package.  I was mentally bracing for trouble, prevarication, quibbling, and fudging, but their instant response was better than my low expectation. I was very happy, and that is the same with all of us – we want things fixed and fast. Staff need to be trained to provide it 4. Never combatative I hate one thing in particular and I have hated it my whole life, and that is being told “no”.  I am sure I am not the only customer who is like that.  One of the great ways of telling a customer “no” is to reference third parties.  When I was at the Shinsei Bank, sometimes the customers would want us to do something which was not possible.  Banking, by the way, is a highly regulated industry with tomes of rules.  If we said “no, we can't do that”, then to someone like me, that is a red rag to a bull and I will tell you the thousand reasons why it has to be a “yes”.  Instead, we would firstly agree that we could do it.  Then we would pause, reflect in an obvious way and then ask the customer what do we do about the Financial Services Agency (FSA) rule that prohibits that action.  Now we have said “yes” at first, so they are relieved and their guard is down. Next, we have made it a problem between them and the FSA and not with us.  Third-party direction works well if you can access it. 5. Seeking win-win outcomes Win-win is an obvious best solution, but many systems are not designed that way.  This forces the staff into confrontation with the customer and it creates unnecessary tensions.  Staff training will not easily overcome a structural problem.  Take a good look at your internal rules and systems and see if they are designed in a way to be a “lose” to the customer and a “win” to the firm. Change them or improve them if possible. 6. No excuses Highly litigious cultures like the US are hard wired to never admit guilt or responsibility, which can drive the customer nuts.  There are also some personalities who cannot admit being wrong and will try some mealy-mouthed lingustic gymnastics to avoid taking accountability.  I hate these types of people in any form.  As the customer we don't want excuses. We want soutions, compensation or retribution.  We want you to fix the problem and we want it now.  Again, this is about how we train and empower people.  The Ritz-Carlton Hotel chain is famous for giving staff a certain amount of money they can right off to keep the customer happy. It works, as I have experienced firsthand.  I was staying in their Washington DC property and I went down for breakfast at the 6.30am opening time but the waiter apologised that they were not ready yet.  I said “no problem, I will just sit by the window over there and read my paper”.  He later came and told me they were now ready.  When I went to pay, the waiter said “complements of the Ritz Carlton because we have inconvenienced you by making you wait”.  That was service, I thought, and here I am telling all and sundry about it, for them, years later.  In Part Three will wrap up this look at Outstanding Customer Service.  

It's time for an action packed week in Higurashi, as Akasaka shows off his manga protagonist level skills at Mahjong and teams up with Ooishi to take the fight to some kidnappers! We discuss cops, protest tactics, the existence of a tiny Mion acting as a Capo, and figure out exactly why Ooishi is so hung up on the serial murder case in the future. Also, we call in Pete again to investigate another mysterious box. For fun!

Guess what? We have more to unpack this week! Gotta slay 'em all kaya naman we get to kuda all the highs and lows of our favorite (and not so favorite) shows this week. Are you ready for another #ShippersWaveWeekly? Let's begin! #WeAreSeries, #MyStandIn, #MyStandInTH, #WandeeGoodday, #TheTrainee, #MarahuyoProject, at #IHearTheSunspot 02:45 We Are 12:24 Marahuyo 22:08 Sunspot 30:25 Akasaka 37:09 Wandee Good Day48:30 MLMU 1:01:10 Trainee Make chika and barda with us through our following socials: ⁠⁠https://twitter.com/theshippersph⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/theshippersph⁠⁠ ⁠⁠http://www.instagram.com/theshippersph⁠⁠ ⁠⁠htttp://www.tiktok.com/@shippersph⁠⁠ For more inquiries, e-mail us at ⁠⁠shippersph@gmail.com⁠

松川正則沖縄県宜野湾市長２６日午前９時３５分ごろ、東京都港区赤坂のビジネスホテルの一室で、沖縄県宜野湾市の松川正則市長が倒れているのが見つかり、その場で死亡が確認された。 The mayor of the city of Ginowan in Okinawa Prefecture, southern Japan, was found dead at a hotel in the Akasaka area in Tokyo's Minato Ward on Friday.

The mayor of the city of Ginowan in Okinawa Prefecture, southern Japan, was found dead at a hotel in the Akasaka area in Tokyo's Minato Ward on Friday.

Short（短編） festival drum 祭り太鼓 ※ロングバージョンのある有料版「Sound in Nature」もあります。 There is also a paid version of "Sound in Nature" which is rich in episodes and has a long version.(Apple podcast only) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sound-in-nature/id1569798616 WEB: https://soundinnature.com/

Viví tu vida Abbie. Todo en el plato, cinete cagay, re sad en Akasaka, la segunda madre y el ocultamiento. ⁠⁠Seguinos en Twitter  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Seguinos en Instagram ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Seguinos en Tik Tok⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Suscribite a nuestro canal de Youtube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Tecito⁠⁠

Was het op de weg van Sas naar Sluis, een soldaat op weg naar huis? Nee, het was de terugreis vanuit Tournai, na het zien van de film 'Outlandish' - en bij het doorkruisen van een grensstreek realiseer je je: we komen allemaal van elders. 23.04 CD Songs for marimba (Ladder of Escape 15 Attaca ATT 2017153) In a landscape     Tatiana Koleva 8'39”  23.10 eigen opname 20170323MAX-001 Wantenaar, Mathilde: Octet voor strijkers (2016) (laatste gedeelte) Ferschtman, Liza [viool];Hoppe, Esther [viool];Tanaka, Ayako [viool];Gilmore, Benjamin Marquise [viool];Stumm, Jennifer [altviool];Akasaka, Tomoko [altviool];Gnocchi, Giovanni [cello];Várdai, István [cello] 8'42”  23.20 CD Winter (Sony Classical 196588868622) Benjamin Britten: Corpus Cristi Carol Lavinia Meijer 3'30”  23.27 eigen opname Kees Arntzen: Gia Sena kai i boukla (voor cello solo) [voor jou en de krul] Emily  Kocken 3'48”  eigen opname Kees Arntzen: Gia Sena kai i pnoi (voor fluit solo) [voor jou en de adem] Jan Hollanders 3'02”  23.35 CD Music for organ and percussion (Orgelpark Records 007-2010) Jan Hage; Tatiana Koleva: Improvisation Jan Hage; Tatiana Koleva 7'52”  23.45 CD margriet hoenderdos chamber works (Edition Wandelweister EWR 1506) Margriet Hoenderdos: de lussen van Favery Fie Schouten (bass clarinet), Stefanie Liedtke (bassoon), Hilde Kaizer (clarinet), Joeri de Vente (horn), Anna Duinker (oboe) 5'26”  23.52 CD Songs for marimba (Ladder of Escape 15 Attaca ATT 2017153) Tatiana Koleva: Way home   Tatiana Koleva 4'53”

Riffraff inhabit all corners of the business world, but the sales profession suffers more than many others. Bankers do all sorts of evil things with our money.  Stock brokers do all sorts of evil things with our money.  Real estate agents tell one version of the truth to buyers. Government officials purloin our money. Everywhere you look, someone is ripping us off.  However, these industries and institutions do not get blanket smeared with the failings of the few, like in the case of salespeople. We are our own worst enemy in many ways.  There is a taint to the profession, an odious odor, scandalising the hallways. Desperate people do dumb things and tell lies to buyers.  There are no common standards of conduct being adhered to in the sales profession. You just become a salesperson by dint of putting your hand up for a sales job.  After that point, you are free to unleash your reign of terror and destruction on all around you. “I am not like that” you may say, but how would the buyer know that?  They have been trained to expect to be ripped off by salespeople. It is one of my pet hates with the profession.  Lo and behold someone called me up with a lie.  A lie? How could anyone be that stupid, you might be wondering?  Well, have you heard this one before, “Hello Mr. Story, how are you today?  I am from XYZ company and we handle a range of investment products. One of our representatives will be in your area and so are you available for a meeting next week?”. This industry of selling investment products is tricky.  I know, because I oversaw the sales of these products at the Shinsei Bank and the National Australia Bank here in Japan.  What makes them difficult is you can't hear, see, touch, smell or taste these intangibles.  Investment products are abstract ideas. The buyer will have no idea if the decision to buy was a good one or not, for many months and in some cases, many years.  So the obvious thing we are all buying is the trust that what we have been told will in fact happen. Given the trust element is so vital, how could the leadership at XYZ company come up with a sales script like this one, totally built on a lie?  Amazingly, this is the first thing coming out of their mouth.  Reality check: their representative won't be in my area.  That is a total fabrication, a complete lie. Why? They think that somehow this will convince me to see that person.  I don't put up with is unprofessionalism and I go after them. When they call, I ask them which area their representative will be in.  They panic, look at the suburb address on their screen and blurt out “Akasaka”.  So, because I am unrelenting with such idiots, I ask, “Well given Akasaka is quite a big place, which exact part of Akasaka will they be in next week?”.  More blustering and panic, because now we have gone completely off piste. Let's step back and take a look at the big picture inside the sales profession. Japan is a very honest culture.  This means though, that when people tell lies, they never readily admit to it.  They never want to take any accountability.  Instead they will tell you anything, in order to not admit that what they told you was crap.  They try and move the blame back to you, by claiming you misheard or misunderstood what they were saying.  This honest culture can blind us to this quaint trait to lie.  So when we are leading our salespeople, we can't just assume because everyone is so honest in Japan, that our salespeople won't lie to the client. This is also a culture where the buyer is GOD and whatever the buyer wants the salesperson will make happen. This can include lying, breaking the rules, over promising and being disingenuous.  The back office delivery component of the company cannot easily deliver on salesperson over-promised goodies.  Now we have a new set of problems to deal with, as sections within the company start to feud amongst themselves.  Or they agree to a deal that is bad for the business.  Being truthful with clients also means delivering bad news too. Salespeople in Japan have to be guided to do this, because of their own accord, they will avoid it every time and prefer to sow chaos internally. It is important to state and keep re-stating what should be obvious – don't lie to buyers.  We have to explain we would rather forego a deal than get it by lying.  This gets harder when their bonuses and commissions are linked to the sale.  Also, a hard-nosed sales culture will force people into positions where they will compromise their personal and the firm's integrity to do the deal.  Suruga Bank had been a very aggressive lender in the market.  They reaped the whirlwind of negative media coverage, because of all the lies told by their bank staff to get loans written.  Wells Fargo had a similar issue with staff creating fake accounts to meet aggressive quotas.  The real cost of those lies play out over many years. We may have our own aggressive targets too, but we also have to ensure that we are guiding people along the correct path of how to make those targets.  If we all agree that trust of the buyer is key, then we can start to build that trust by ensuring that our salespeople are never lying to the buyers, in order to make a sale.  We have to remind salespeople of one very important thing.  We are not after a sale.  This is important so let me repeat this point - we are not after a sale. We are after repeat orders and these only come when there is a track record of trust.  We are currently negotiating with one of the biggest companies in the world.  We won't continue with them, because they are after a single low value transaction rather than an ongoing relationship.  We are not after a single sale. We would rather put our energy into finding a buyer we can work with forever, than get bogged down in a small transactional piece of business. Let's wrap this discussion up. The solution to this lying salesperson problem doesn't arrive from outside.  John Wayne is not going to come charging over the sand hill, heralded by a bugle call, to our rescue.  This is an inside out process. We have to start with our own sales operations and clean that up.  If we do this consistently over time, we can isolate out the baddies, the dodgy types, the liars and contain the harm they do to us.  None of us want to work in a profession that stinks.  Our job is to develop good people in sales, rather than good salespeople.  Is this what you are doing at the moment

Inspired by Rabbi Tzvi Freeman, Chan Thomas, the Midewinwin of the Anishinabe tribes, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Duncan Trussell (@duncantrussell). Sound by Akasaka (@yochanting). Audiobook. Mature listeners only (18+).

  Riffraff inhabit all corners of the business world, but the sales profession suffers more than many others.  Bankers do all sorts of evil things with our money.  Stock brokers do all sorts of evil things with our money.  Real estate agents tell one version of the truth to buyers.  Government officials purloin our money.  Everywhere you look, someone is ripping us off.  However, these industries and institutions do not get blanket smeared with the failings of the few, like in the case of salespeople. We are our own worst enemy in many ways.  There is a taint to the profession, an odious odor, scandalising the hallways.  Desperate people do dumb things and tell lies to buyers.  There are no common standards of conduct being adhered to in the sales profession.  You just become a salesperson by dint of putting your hand up for a sales job.  After that point, you are free to unleash your reign of terror and destruction on all around you. “I am not like that” you may say, but how would the buyer know that?  They have been trained to expect to be ripped off by salespeople.  It is one of my pet hates with the profession.  Lo and behold anyone who calls me up and starts with a lie.  Starts with a lie? How could anyone be that stupid, you might be wondering?  Well, have you heard this one before, “Hello Mr. Story, how are you today?  I am from XYZ company and we handle a range of investment products.  One of our representatives will be in your area and so are you available for a meeting next week?”. This industry of selling investment products is tricky.  I know, because I oversaw the sales of these products at the Shinsei Bank and the National Australia Bank here in Japan.  What makes them difficult is you can't hear, see, touch, smell or taste these intangibles.  Investment products are abstract ideas. The buyer will have no idea if the decision to buy was a good one, for many months and in some cases, many years.  So the obvious thing we are all buying is the trust that what we have been told will in fact happen.  Given the trust element is so vital, how could the leadership at XYZ company come up with a sales script, built on a bald faced, blazen lie?  Amazingly, this is the first thing coming out of their mouth.  Reality check: their representative won't be in my area.  That is a total fabrication, a complete lie, a nefarious fiction.  Why? They think that somehow this will convince me to see that person.  When they call, I ask them which area their representative will be in.  They panic, look at the suburb address on their screen and blurt out “Akasaka”.  So I ask, “Well given Akasaka is quite a big place, which exact part of Akasaka will they be in next week?”.  More blustering and panic, because now we have gone totally off piste. Japan is a very honest culture.  This means though, that when people tell lies, they never admit to it.  They never take any accountability.  Instead they will tell you anything, in order to not admit that what they told you was crap.  They try and move the blame back to you, by claiming you misheard or misunderstood what they were saying.  This honest culture can blind us to this quaint trait to lie.  So when we are leading our salespeople, we can't just assume because everyone is so honest in Japan, that our salespeople won't lie to the client.  This is also a culture where the buyer is GOD and whatever the buyer wants the salesperson will make happen.  This can include lying, breaking the rules, over promising and being disingenuous.  The delivery component of the company cannot easily deliver on salesperson over-promised goodies.  Now we have a new set of problems to deal with, as sections within the company start to feud amongst themselves.  Or they agree to a deal that is bad for the business.  Being truthful with clients also means delivering bad news too. Salespeople in Japan have to be guided to do this, because of their own accord, they will avoid it every time, hide it and prefer to sow chaos internally. It is important to state and keep re-stating what should be obvious – don't lie to buyers.  We have to explain we would rather forego a deal than get it by lying.  This gets harder when their bonuses and commissions are linked to the sale.  Also, a hard-nosed selling culture will force people into positions where they will compromise their personal and the firm's integrity to do the deal.  Do you recall the Suruga Bank catastrophe? They had been a very aggressive lender in the market.  They wound up reaping the whirlwind of negative media coverage, because of all the lies told by the bank staff to get loans written.  In America, the famous Wells Fargo organisation had a similar issue with staff creating fake accounts to meet aggressive quotas.  The real costs of those episodes played out over many years and it took Wells Fargo's shares five years to recover from this branding disaster.  Suruga Bank has never recovered and it's share price has been trashed since these incidents came to light. We may have our own aggressive targets too, but we also have to ensure that we are guiding people along the correct path of how to make those targets.  If we all agree that trust of the buyer is key, then we can start to build that trust by ensuring that our salespeople are never lying to the buyers, in order to make a sale.  We have to remind salespeople of one very important thing.  We are not after a sale.  We are after repeat orders and these only come when there is a track record of trust. The solution to this lying salesperson problem doesn't arrive from outside.  John Wayne is not going to come charging over the sand hill, heralded by a bugle call, to our rescue.  This is an inside out process and we have to start with our own sales operations and clean them up.  If we do this consistently over time, we can isolate the baddies and contain the harm they do to us.  None of us want to work in a profession that stinks.  Our job is to develop good people in sales, rather than good salespeople.    

Don't think of a pink elephant.  Did you think of one when you read that sentence?  It shows how easily we can we swayed by images.  If I had said don't think of the letters p-i-n-k-e-l-e-p-h-a-n-t, you would have been fabulously successful.  What is the difference – both refer to the same prohibition?  We are very much susceptible to images, yet we rarely use this facility when we are trying to have influence with those around us. We think that force of will, desire, status, oratory, personal power, connections or wealth is how we can have influence with others.  In various circumstances, some of these will work, but most are out of reach to the ordinary punter.  What else can we do?  Well we can “pink elephant” our way to greatness.  We can incorporate images into our conversations to persuade others to follow our recommendations. Getting others to follow our ideas is how we have influence and we have all heard that storytelling is a powerful vehicle for explaining recommendations to others.  Like with joke telling though, most of us are pretty average at these skill sets.  It sounds easy enough – just tell the joke and people laugh, tell the story and people will get in line behind you.  Well we know that few are any good at telling jokes or stories. That is mainly down to a total lack of planning.  Professional comedians spend an enormous amount of time working on their content and then perfecting the timing and mastery of the delivery.  If you ever watch Japanese rakugo comedians for example, you can really understand the work that goes into this line of enterprise.  They sit on a cushion, usually hold a fan in their hand and that is it.  Everything else is down to what they say and how they say it.  They create multiple characters, locations, situations and dialogue out of thin air. On our own part, we normally spend zero time working on our ability to have influence.  We don't craft our story content, nor do we practice the delivery over and over to have the best effect.  We just blurt out of our mouth whatever it is we want and then get discouraged when no one could care less about what we want. There is a simple formula that is a powerful engine for gaining influence.  It works on the basis that a good idea is a good idea.  The reason for that is because the rationale behind the idea is compelling.  If your idea doesn't engage the emotions and logic of the listener, they are unlikely to be convinced of it's value.  It is a subtle appraoach.  Ramming our ideas down the throats of others is the usual way people approach conversion to their way of thinking.  This widespread habit has spawned a public of doubters, skeptics, nay-sayers, trolls and haters.  We have to recognize that this is our potential audience from the start. So don't tell people what you want up front.  “I think we should hire more sales people right now, to expand the revenues”, you say fervently.  The immediate reaction to this bold expense plan is to inspire everyone in earshot to get to work on coming up with the thousand good reasons that is nonsense and won't work.  Instead we need to build up some images in our story that lay things out in such a way that the audience leaps ahead of the story.  We want them to arrive at their own conclusion, that we should hire more people to raise the revenue.  By the time we get to our recommendation at the end of the story they are already there and wondering what took us so long to get to the obvious answer.  This is called winning without battle, in this case a battle of wits and intellect. The storytelling should have scenes the listener can see in their mind's eye.  We might say:  “Last Friday, I was up on the 44th floor of the headquarters in Akasaka having a coffee with Tanaka san from the CFO's office, talking about how to achieve the President's recently announced five year revenue targets.  Interestingly, she said that they had just finished a computer simulation analysis of the results from the last five years. They found that sales per salesperson were averaging around 40 million yen per year.  I was surprised to hear that even first year newbies like young Suzuki san in the sales team, more than covered their costs in the first year.  I always presumed those new hires were a cost to the company. Tanaka san was busy getting ready for another presentation a little later that afternoon, so she walked me over to the gorgeous new dark wood paneled board room on the 47th floor. She booted up her laptop and showed me this line graph on the big 65 inch monitor there, that each year the average increase in salesperson revenue was 50%. I didn't know that by year three, the salespeople were really starting to pull in sizeable revenue numbers. It was interesting to me that new hires cover their costs and that the real results get going in year three.  If we are going to meet our five year targets, we should hire more salespeople right now.  If we do that they won't cost us anything this year and in three years time they will be producing the big numbers we need”. Now that story required a little over one minute to tell.  This is not a huge burden on the listener's patience.  I included people, locations, images they could identify with to make it real.  At the very end, I made a call for action – “hire” and then finished off with the icing on the cake with the benefit of doing that action – “produce the big numbers we need”. Don't “free form” when trying to have influence.  Carefully plan what you will say, practice it to get it concise and digestible for your audience.  If you do that you will have people follow your recommendations and ideas and that is what we all want, isn't it.

This is a pretty big subject, so I will pick up a few of the more noteworthy differences.  In the West, salespeople, for the most part, are involved in an occupation for which they have received no training.  They are thrown into sales, to sink or swim.  If they don't sell, they don't eat, because of the sales commission structures.  Total commission based remuneration is a normal thing in most countries or at least the pay structures will have a very high “at risk” component.  In many cases, this drives desperation and salespeople saying anything to get a sale, in order to last another week in the job.  Cold calling potential clients is a big part of finding new buyers and a lot of attention is placed on prospecting and pipeline building activities.  Japan is quite different.  There are very few salespeople here in 100% commission sale jobs.  The simple reason is because they don't have to.  Anyone on that type of pay scale is in a very low level job and are usually pretty young people who not very well educated.  The touts you see on the street outside clubs in Kabukicho in Shinjuku or in Roppongi or Akasaka will no doubt be on high commissions and very low base salaries.  The societal status attached to those in commission sales is also very low and so it is very hard to find anyone who wants to do it.  In Japan, you don't want your daughter to marry one of them. Like the West, most Japanese people have no training in sales apart from a perfunctory On The Job Training exposure.  I say exposure because it is rather more cosmetic than concrete.  Your boss or one of the more experienced salespeople, will take you with them to visit a few clients and then bingo, you are out there on your own.  Your boss and the others in the firm went through the same process, so no one thinks anything about it.  This is a brilliant system for reproducing mediocrity, generation after generation.  In both cases of untrained Western and Japanese salespeople, they notoriously launch straight into their pitch without asking any questions of the buyer.  They immediately go into the dark pit of details, the facts, the spec, the brochure, the flyers, the powerpoint, etc. In the West, commission based salespeople can have ultra short professional lives in sales.  Most people, with little or no training, have simply no idea what they are doing and so they just fail. In short order, they are sayonara out of sales.  The Darwinian penalty for failure is sales oblivion.  In Japan, sales people are usually on a salary and bonus arrangement or base salary and commission, with the base being fairly high.  For some of my followers living outside of Japan, it may be news to learn that because of the labour laws here, incompetence is not an acceptable reason to fire people in companies.  We are predominantly talking about the mid-sized and big companies now, because in smaller firms that bias is not so pronounced.  Nevertheless, in Japan, the failing salesperson would get a good dose of verbal abuse from the boss, on a regular basis.  If they can't take that, then they will quit or if they can take it and won't quit, they will be transferred to another non-sales role elsewhere in the company.  Fairly useless salespeople are tolerated here, much more than in the West. Japanese larger companies are “generalist”, rather than “specialist” production machines.  Everyone is expected to migrate their way around the different parts of the company, picking up experience along the way over the course of their long career.  One of those rotations may be into the sales department.  Strangely, there is very limited activity applied to prospecting, especially cold calling.  Japanese salespeople rely on their firm's brand to do the bulk of the selling for them.  If you aren't very good at hunting, getting new clients, then no problem, you are assigned to become a farmer taking care of existing clients. Basically your job is to turn up and clip their ticket for the next regular order.  For all Japanese salespeople, you must be totally subservient and uber obedient to the buyer.  You must do whatever they say, be available 24 hours a day and put up with large amounts of crap to keep the buyer happy and loyal.  And trust me, Japanese buyers are incredibly picky and demanding.  If you make a mess of even this in the lesser demanding role of farmer, then you will get moved out and into another department.  You won't get fired. In the West, we are trained to persuade the buyer, to counter whatever they say, to have a comeback immediately.  We say the buyer is King, yet we need to get their royal agreement to buy.  There are lots of tactics used to get this “Yes”. Salespeople can be very aggressive and terrier like about this process.  They will argue with the buyer and try to convince them to reverse their opposition to purchasing.  For example, if the buyer says “I will think about it”, then the salespeople will ask them, “what in particular do you need to think about”, “who else will be involved in this decision” etc., and keep pushing hard to get a sale.  In Japan, the end decision maker is very vague and unclear sometimes inside companies.  When they say “we” will think about it, they mean it, because the person you are sitting across the table from cannot make the decision on their own.  Everyone who will be impacted by the buying decision has to be consulted and a consensus reached, before moving forward. In Japan, this always seems to take a lot of time. Now in Japan, the buyer is not King.  The buyer is God.  Salespeople must meekly obey whatever God says.  The buyer will solely direct the sales meeting conversation and will be looking for the salesperson's pitch, so they can fillet it and then destroy it.  This is a tried and true technique to reduce risk.  By pulling the pitch apart limb from limb, they want the seller to now show them this is not a risky decision that will come back later to haunt their career.  Part of this pitch and then firestorm of buyer criticism routine is that there are no discovery questions being asked of the buyer.  The salesperson is scared to ask the buyer, that is to say God, any questions, so they remain ignorant of their needs. If they happen to have what the buyer needs and they have successfully dealt with the risk question, then they will get a sale. The typical lack of sales training is similar in the West and Japan, but the degrees of aggression are quite different.  Pushy sales techniques just won't work here.  If you don't know how to get permission to ask questions, then be prepared to be like the grouse at a shooting afternoon in Scotland, as the well armed buyer gives you both barrels and blows your pitch out of the air.  Decisions are always going to take time because of the group orientation of this society and the buyer is never on your nor your boss's schedule.

Kumiko Saito is passionate about her singing career and is working on releasing an album. Devastated by the tragic loss of her younger sister, Kumiko was consumed by the trauma and, for a while, dropped everything. When she finally found musical inspiration again, it felt like it was coming "from the universe." After college, Kumiko pursued fashion design at Esmod Japon. Her grandfather managed Golden Gessakai, a renowned Akasaka cabaret, in the 1960s and 1970s.

{「ナックイメージテクノロジー、世界の最新シネマ撮影機材を集めたイベント「Cine Lens & Camera Day Akasaka 2022」開催」　株式会社ナックイメージテクノロジーは、注目のシネカメラ・シネレンズ機材を紹介するイベント「Cine Lens & Camera Day Akasaka 2022」を、2022年10月31日 、11月1日 に開催する。会場は東京・赤坂にあるナックイメージテクノロジー 赤坂B1F多目的ホール。}

A Sign of Affection on Suu Morishitan romanssisarja, joka kertoo kuulovammaisesta tytöstä ja paljon ulkomailla matkustelevasta pojasta. Ajankohtaisina aiheina puhumme siitä, miten belgialainen taiteilija teki koko One Piece -sarjasta yksiin kansiin painetun taideteoksen, Spy × Familyn kustannustoimittajan haastattelusta sekä siitä, miten erilaisilla tavoilla mangaa tehdään työpareina, tiimeinä ja yhteistyössä. Lukujonossa aloitamme Shuzo Oshimin sarjan Blood on the Tracks, jossa yläkoululaispoika alkaa tajuta rakastavan ja ylisuojelevaisen äitinsä olevan mieleltään järkkynyt sosiopaatti. --- Kommentoi | Twitter | Instagram --- - Science Fiction Bokhandeln Tukholmassa - Tokyo Revengers ja Heaven Official's Blessing esillä kaupan paraatipaikalla oven edessä (kuva) - Svensk Bokhandelnin artikkeli mangan menestyksestä ja Ruotsin uudesta mangajulkaisija Idegrenistä - I Swear I Won't Bother You Again! 2:55 – A SIGN OF AFFECTION: ESITTELY - A Sign of Affection - Suu Morishita - Hibi chouchou / Like a Butterfly, joka sai juuri ennen jakson julkaisua jenkkilisenssin - Shortcake Cake - A Sign of Affectionin uusimmat luvut löytyvät esimerkiksi Azukista ja Izneosta - Jakso 56, jossa puhuimme Japanin vuoden 2021 mangapalkinnoista - Dessert-lehti - Our Precious Conversations, josta puhuimme jaksossa 12 - My Little Monster - Say I Love you - A Condition Called Love - Living-Room Matsunaga-san - Hahmoesittelyt (kuva) - Jakso 73, jossa puhuimme sarjasta Sweat and Soap - Tapahtumapaikka on juna-asemien nimistä päätellen suunnilleen näillä main 21:04 – A SIGN OF AFFECTION: TEEMAT - Itsuomi ja Yuki laajentavat toistensa maailmoja (kuva) - Yuki ei aina saa etenkään vieraista sanoista selvää huulilta lukiessaan (kuva) - Itsuomi oppii tavaamaan sormillaan, mikä auttaa kommunikaatiossa (kuva) - Oushi on ajatellut viittomakielen olevan hänen ja Yukin yhteinen salainen kieli (kuva) 30:10 – A SIGN OF AFFECTION: ITSUOMI JA YUKI - Itsuomi ei arastele fyysistä läheisyyttä, mikä saa Yukin sydämen pamppailemaan (kuva) - Tosi outo kohtaus, jossa Itsuomi esittelee Yukin ystävälleen Shinille, ja kohtauksessa Itsuomi ja Shin vain juttelevat yksityisasioistaan ja jättävät Yukin ulkopuolelle (kuva) - Itsuomin ja Oushin “jätkäjutut“ (kuva) - Itsuomin ajatuksia päästään kuulemaan vain muutamassa kohdassa (kuva) 40:55 – A SIGN OF AFFECTION: SIVUHAHMOT 44:35 – A SIGN OF AFFECTION: TUNNELMA JA KERRONTA - Räväkämpityylinen shoujotekijä Taamo - I'm in Love and It's the End of the World - Atsumori-kun's Bride-to-Be - Robico - …jonka sarjasta Our Precious Conversations puhuimme jaksossa 12 ja jaksossa 23 - Kerronta vie lukijan Yukin näkökulmaan tehokkaasti kuvaamalla huuliltalukemisen vaikeutta toisinaan väärin päin olevilla kirjaimilla (kuva) - Yuki ja Oushi puhuvat keskenään sujuvaa viittomakieltä (kuva) - Itsuomin viittomat ovat aluksi aina huolellisia ja hitaita (kuva) - Peukku pystyyn -ele ei Japanin viittomakielessä tarkoita että “ok“, vaan “älä“ (kuva) - Yukista on tosi mielenkiintoista, miten Itsuomin saksalainen ystävä käyttää keskustelussa lainausmerkkielettä (kuva) - Kasvomaskit tekevät Yukille muiden ymmärtämisen mahdottomaksi (kuva) - Tekijät kertovat viittomakielen kuvaamisen prosessistaan (kuva) 55:48 – A SIGN OF AFFECTION: KANNET - Sarjan pokkarijulkaisun kannet (kuva) - Jaksoa äänittäessä meiltä jäi huomaamatta, että sarjan digijulkaisun kannet ovat asettelultaan vähän erilaiset kuin pokkarijulkaisun kannet; kuva on isompana ja nimilogo yläreunan sijaan alareunassa - Shortcake Caken tosi rumat kannet 58:09 – A SIGN OF AFFECTION: JULKAISU - Kääntäjän selitys huuliltalukemisen väärinymmärtämisen käännösratkaisulle (kuva) 01:00:40 – A SIGN OF AFFECTION: YHTEENVETO - Jakso 35, jossa puhuimme sarjasta A Silent Voice - Perfect World - I Hear the Sunspot 01:08:28 – ONEPIECE - ONEPIECE taiteilija Ilan Manouachin nettisivuilla - One Piece -manga - Ilan Manouach - ANN:n uutinen ONEPIECE-teoksesta - ANN:n uutinen Shueishan reaktiosta - Art Spiegelmanin holokaustikuvaus Maus - Ilan Manouachin julkaisematon muunneltu versio Katz 01:15:21 – SPY × FAMILYN KUSTANNUSTOIMITTAJAN HAASTATTELU - ANN:n haastattelu - Jakso 53, jossa puhuimme Spy x Familystä - …joka on animen alkamisen myötä saanut varsin paljon uusia kuuntelukertoja ja noussut yhdeksi kaikkien aikojen kuunnelluimmista jaksoistamme, vaikka tuoreeltaan sitä ei kuunneltu mitenkään erityisen paljon (kuva) - Spy × Familyn kannet - huomaa erityisesti pokkarin 10 kansi, joka poikkeaa muista iskevästi - Bakuman, joka kertoo mangan tekemisestä - Jakso 64, jossa puhuimme ajankohtaisosiossa siitä, miten Jujutsu Kaisenin tekijä Gege Akutami on pitänyt sairaslomaa - Jakso 71, jossa puhuimme hampaankolo-osiossa siitä, miten RuriDragonin tekijä on jäänyt sairaslomalle - Oshi no Ko -sarjan piirtäjä Mengo Yokoyari twiittasi siitä, että hän näyttää hyvinvoivalta, koska hänen mangaansa ei julkaista jokaisen viikon Young Jump -printtilehdessä, vaan kiertojärjestelmällä niin, että väliin jää taukoviikkoja - Puhuimme Oshi no Ko -sarjasta lukujonossa jaksossa 67 - Jakso 68, jossa puhuimme ajankohtaisosiossa siitä, miten Yoshihiro Togashi työstää uusia lukuja pitkään tekijän heikon terveyden takia tauolla olleeseen Hunter × Hunter -sarjaansa; Togashi on sen jälkeen on valittanut huonoa kuntoaan ja ilmoittanut ottavansa projektiin uusia avustajia 01:24:05 – MANGAN TEKEMINEN KAHDEN TAI USEAMMAN HENGEN YHTEISTYÖNÄ - ANN:n uutinen siitä, miten Kaguya-saman tekijä ja Oshi no Kon käsikirjoittaja Aka Akasakan uuden sarjan piirtäjä valitaan kilpailulla - Akasaka aikoo jatkossa keskittyä käsikirjoittamiseen - Mainittuja yhden taiteilijanimen alla toimivia mangakatiimejä: - Akira Himekawa - Fujiko Fujio (joille tuli sittemmin bänät, ja jotka myöhemmin tunnettiin nimellä Fujiko F. Fujio ja Fujiko Fujio A) - CLAMP - Muita mainittuja mangantekijöitä: - Tsugumi Ohba ja Takeshi Obata, joiden yhteissarjasta Death Note puhuimme jaksossa 60 - Eiki Eiki - Taishi Zaou / Mikio Tsuda - Aruko ja Kazune Kawahara, joiden yhteissarjasta My Love Story! puhuimme jaksossa 69 - Shin Kibayashi - Mia Ikumi, jonka kuolemasta puhuimme ajankohtaisosiossa jaksossa 65 - Dr. Stone, josta puhuimme jaksossa 41 ja jaksossa 61 ja jaksossa 64 - Food Wars - Cesare, jossa renessanssikonsultti on saanut nimensä kanteen asti merkittävän tarinapanoksensa ansiosta - Naoki Urasawa - Coolkyoushinnjya 01:41:38 – KUULIJAKOMMENTTI: KÄÄNTÄJÄT EIVÄT SAA OLLA YHTEYDESSÄ MANGAKOIHIN - Antti Valkaman Twitter-kommentti - Jakso 71, jonka hampaankolo-osiossa puhuimme siitä, ettei mangan kääntäjällä yleensä ole mahdollista keskustella tekijöiden kanssa 01:44:23 – KUULIJAKOMMENTTI: KUUKAUSIMAKSULLISET MANGAPALVELUT - Vinland Saga, josta puhuimme jaksossa 3 - Delicious in Dungeon, josta puhuimme jaksossa 9 - Jakso 29, jossa puhuimme siitä, mistä mangaa voi laillisesti lukea ja ostaa - Manganlukupalveluita: - Manga Plus - Vizin Shonen Jump -palvelu - Jakso 54, jossa puhuimme Golden Kamuysta ja Shonen Jump -palvelun nettialustan ikävästä käyttökokemuksesta - Azuki, josta puhuimme jaksossa 52 - Manga Planet - Mangamo, joka ei aikoinaan ollut kovin toimiva palvelu, kuten puhuimme jaksossa 25, mutta emme ole testanneet, onko se parantunut sitten julkaisunsa - Izneo, jonka kuukausitilauspalvelusta puhuimme jaksossa 30 - Manga Up!, josta puhuimme jaksossa 71 - Crunchyroll Manga - Futekiya - Renta! - Coolmic - Jakso 59, jossa puhuimme Kodanshan vähän ankeasta digistrategiasta - Trinity Blood - Maaretin puoliaikajuttu Anime-lehdessä 3/2016 (kuva) - Konosuba - Animesovituksen animaatiopäällikkö Koichi Kikuta - Ass Vampire -OVA, jonka kakkosjakson (ei siis ykkösjakson) Kikuta on tehnyt (tosin eri taiteilijanimellä) - Petterin yhteisjuttu Konosuban ranobesta, mangasta ja animesta Anime-lehdessä 3/2017 (kuva) 02:02:53 – LUKUJONOSSA: BLOOD ON THE TRACKS - Blood on the Tracks - Petterin alkutunnelmat sarjasta Anime-lehdessä 3/2017 (pdf) (huom: otsikossa käytetty eri käännösnimeä, ja Petteri myös sanoi samalla tavalla väärin jakson alussa) - Jakso 49, jossa puhuimme Shuzo Oshimin toisesta sarjasta Happiness - Oshimin ja Asanon yhteishaastattelu vuodelta 2017 - Inio Asano aloitti samaan aikaan yksipokkarisen tarinansa Downfall - Petterin vastaavat alkutunnelmat Downfallista Anime-lehdessä 4/2017 (pdf) - Maaretin twiitti sarjan painostavasta tunnelmasta - Rakkauskirjeen repiminen (kuva) - Sivuhahmojen (ja etenkin tädin) rumanrealistinen piirtotyyli vetää lukijan Seiichin sosiaalisesti ahdistuneeseen maailmaan, jossa ei voi varma siitä mikä on normaali tapa reagoida asioihin ja mikä ei (kuva) - Tämä nimenomainen kohtaus hämäsi Reddit-keskustelijoita aikoinaan - Sarjan kannet 02:23:38 – LOPETUS

20. Tied:         Blue Sky Complex by Ichikawa Kei @k_ickw - Futekiya         Momo to Manji (Momo and Manji) by Sakura Sawa @climnon - Futekiya19. Ore ga Suki nado Warawaseru by Sato Tsubame - unlicensed18. Mitsuka (Nectar) by akabeko @akabeko_bl – ShuCream BL, Futekiya17. Minato Shouji Coin Laundry by Kantsume Sawa and Tsubaki Yuzu @tsubaki_yuzu - unlicensed16. Ushimitsudokidoki Koshotentan by tacocasi @_tacocasi - Futekiya15. Love Nest 2nd by Minaduki Yuu @toriniku_y - unlicensed 14. Ri-man Love-ho Danshikai (Office Worker's Love Hotel Guys' Night) by Sumeshi @sumeshiwwww – Dlsite Garumani13. Koi o Egakeba Iro ga Saku (Paint Love and the Colors Will Bloom) by Kon Shouta @kon_shota_kon - Futekiya12. Kaniteki Pervert Romance (Simplified Pervert Romance) by Sekihara Neg @sekinghara and Semori Nanako - Futekiya11. Saezuru Tori wa Habatakanai (Twittering Birds Never Fly) by Yoneda Kou @yoneco_info10. Happy Kuso Life (Happy Shitty Life or Happy Crappy Life) by Harada @harada_info - Coolmic, Kuma, Renta9. Haru wo Daiteita afterward (Embracing Love Afterward) by Nitta Youka @saruboboko - unlicensed8. 25-ji, Akasaka de (25:00 in Akasaka) by Natsuno Hiroko @natsunohiro - Futekiya7. Hizamazuite Ai wo Tou by Yamada Nonono @nononoyamada - unlicensed6. Kami-sama Nanka Shinjinai Bokura no Eden by Ichinose Yuma @yumaichinose - unlicensed5. Happy of the End by Ogeretsu Tanaka @tanaca_ - Kuma4. Boku no Omawarisan (My Dearest Cop) by Niyama @niyamabl - Renta3. Old-fashioned Cupcake with Cappuccino by Sagan Sagan - SuBLime2. Yoake no Uta (Lullaby of the Dawn) by Yuno Ichika @yuno_popo - ShuCream BL, Futekiya1. blanc by Nakamura Asumiko @asmk_gengaten - Seven Seas

Although Emperor Go-Daigo's loyalists suffered a terrible setback when he was exiled, they continued fighting against the Bakufu, whose ability to prosecute this war was hindered by corruption and incompetence.Support the show

“We are going to be in your area next week, would you be available on Tuesday or Thursday?”. “Really? Which part of my area will you be in?”. “Are you available on Tuesday or Thursday?”. “Wait a minute, you just said you would be in my area, so which part of my area will you be in?”  “Akasaka”. “Really that's interesting. Akasaka is a big place, which part of Akasaka?”. “Are you available on Tuesday or Thursday?”.   This was an outbound investment sales call.  The object was to sell me on investing my hard earned cash in their company's investment product.   By the way, this conversation carried on far beyond what I have extracted here and became even more ridiculous, if that is actually possible.  The essence was that I didn't believe that what they were saying was true.  They started with a suggestion that they would be in my area and could just drop by.  They say this to appear indirect and less “hard sell”.   However, when you push back on the validity of what they are saying, out comes the blatant hard sell - their constant annoying refrain of “Tuesday or Thursday?”.  Why would they be doing this, when it is so obviously ridiculous?  The answer is lack of sales skills and proper training.     There is a set script in place and I departed from the sacred text by challenging what they were saying. I did not believe that they will happen to be in my area and therefore that they could just drop by.  It sounded unlikely to me, so I pushed back on their basic assertion.  If they wanted to see me, why not just say, “we would love to visit you, would Tuesday suit or how about Thursday?”.  Instead they started with a lie or at best, a dubious assertion, that has close to zero credibility.   Now this sales call is for an investment offer, where you cannot see, taste, hear, touch or smell the product and you won't know if it is any good for years.  The trust factor on this type of sale is huge, yet they start the proceedings with an obvious lie.   How could they have done it more professionally?  “Hello Dr. Story, we have not met or spoken before, but my name is Taro and I am with xyz company. We exist to serve the interests of highly discerning clients like yourself.  Do you have a few moments to speak?   Thank you.   We offer information, insight and help busy executives like yourself to better manager their wealth.  Our clients often tell us they are so busy helping everyone else that they tend to sacrifice devoting enough time to their own personal wealth management.  Is this the type of experience you have ever had?   We may or may not have something that suits your situation, but the beauty of spending a short meeting with our experts is that they can at least outline some of the most successful portfolio structures that have been working for executives similar to yourself.  Are you in a position today to be able to consider investing in products which you might find attractive?”.   Instead, all we had here was a hard sell for a Tuesday or Thursday alternative of choice, built off a lie about the fact they would be in my area next week.  There is no congruency between what they are selling and how they are selling it.     In this modern age, boiler room induced hard sell doesn't work.  The client's interest has to be paramount.  Salespeople who don't get this basic point are not going to be around very long.  Re-design the sales approach and put the client's success at the center and then you will meet clients and make sales. 

Japanese noodle bar reimagined by Adriene Lilly. "I just listened to the recording and pulled out everything that grabbed my attention, then used that to try and make a different environment."

Just then, the apartment door opened. I heard a soft-spoken female voice, “Tadaima!” “Miyako is here, and she brought our lawyer from the airport,” Tom remarked. A very attractive Japanese lady entered the room, walked right up to me, held out her hand, and bowed slightly. I had expected her to be wearing a kimono, but she was wearing a conservative, grey dress. She had a slight accent, “I'm Miyako. Thank you for saving my husband's life!” She gripped my hand with both of hers. “It's a real pleasure to meet you, Miyako. I'm not so sure I saved his life, but I'm glad I was there to help.” Tom interjected, “Here comes my lawyer.” A gorgeous Eurasian woman, about my age, entered the room, rushed over to Tom, and hugged him. “Daddy!” Tom hugged her back, then introduced me, “Samantha, this is the Hamilton I've been telling you about.” She held out her hand. “Call me Sam.” I shook her hand, and said, “Sam, it's a real pleasure to meet you. I'm Ham.” “Sam I'm Ham,” she responded, “sounds like we're reading a Doctor Seuss book.” Tom beamed. “That's my girl. Sharp as a whip. She finished at the top of her class at Harvard Law School last month. We're so proud of her.” Sam appeared to blush. “Now,” Tom said, “let's go have a great dinner. Do you like steak?” He didn't have to ask me a second time. While I put on my suit and tied my tie, Tom changed to an equally outstanding outfit. We all got into the car, and Tom said something in Japanese to the driver. “The absolute best steak in Tokyo is at the Misono Steak House, in Akasaka,” Tom announced. We drove through narrow streets for about a half hour, and pulled up outside a small restaurant front. We went into a dimly-lit, elegant restaurant, and sat at a table with a large skillet built into the surface. Tom and Miyako sat on one side of the table, and Sam sat next to me, on my right. I think she purposely positioned herself there to help me with my chopsticks if I had trouble. A chef appeared with four thick steaks, some shrimp, and an assortment of vegetables, and he proceeded to cook them in front of us. He put on an incredible performance, slicing and dicing the steaks and then tossing the pieces of meat over his head and catching them in the rice bowls in front of each of us. “This is Kobe beef,” Tom explained. “Every minute of their lives these animals are massaged, and they're fed beer all day long. The meat is tender enough to cut between your chopsticks. You'll see.” “And, by the way,” he continued, “from now on, we're not calling them chopsticks. They're hashi.” “Got it. Hashi,” I answered. “Ham went to the Air Force Academy,” Tom explained, looking at Sam. “Where'd you go for undergraduate?” I asked Sam. “I graduated from Northwestern in 1966.” We ate in silence for a few minutes, with me trying my best to impress my hosts, and especially Sam, my facility withhashi. I was getting pretty good, getting almost every bite to my mouth without dropping anything. Then Sam ventured, “You know, I almost dated a cadet once.” “Sounds like you dodged a bullet,” I replied. “No, I was actually really looking forward to it. In the fall of 1963, when I was a sophomore, the Army and Air Force were playing their first-ever football game, at Soldier Field in Chicago.” I remembered it well. I was a doolie at the time, and the entire cadet wing was going to travel to Chicago by train to watch the game and then have a post-game formal ball. We were going to have a joint ball with the “Woops” – the West Pointers – who had also come to Chicago en masse. As a doolie, I had never gotten the opportunity to leave the base since entering the Academy in the summer, and this was going to be a real treat. After the game, we would have about four hours to be out on our own to explore Chicago before the ball. I was really looking forward to it. Then, the day before our departure, my appendix burst and I had peritonitis. I had emergency surgery, and couldn't go on the trip. I was stuck in the Academy hospital, to watch the game – Air Force beat Army – on television. The only cadet in the hospital. In fact, I was the only patient in the entire hospital, other than a Math instructor's wife, who was only there for about three days to deliver her baby. “There was a formal ball after the game,” Sam continued, “and they wanted local college girls to be blind dates for the cadets. It sounded like it would be fun, and I volunteered. I bought a beautiful gown and gorgeous long, white leather formal gloves. And shoes. Remember?” She looked over at Tom and Miyako. They nodded. “I showed up at the ball, and I was as dolled-up as I could be. I'd gone to the hairdresser and had my hair done in the morning, and had my nails done also. And the cadets were so handsome in their mess uniforms. Is that what it's called?” “Mess dress,” I answered. “That's right, mess dress. And I'm not just saying this, Ham, I thought the Air Force cadets looked a lot sharper than the West Pointers.” “It goes without saying,” I answered. “So, I went to the reception hall where all the girls were assembling, and one by one the social director called out the names of the girls and they would go through the door to the ballroom and meet their blind dates.” She paused, took a deep breath, and swallowed hard. “And then I was left all alone. I didn't have a date.” “What!” I exclaimed. “Were they crazy?” “No, it was just, the blind dates had already been pre-arranged, and the cadet I was supposed to be paired up with was in the hospital. I went back to my dorm room and cried myself to sleep.” Tom and Miyako were staring at me. “Ham! Are you all right? You're white as a sheet.” I found myself frozen, with my chopsticks, okay, myhashi, half-way to my mouth, and I couldn't move. Finally, I regained my composure. “That was me! I was the cadet in the hospital!” Now it was Sam's turn to be speechless. Tom looked at Miyako and said, “Sore wa narimasu”. She nodded. Then he looked at me. “I'm sorry for speaking Japanese, Ham. What I said to Miyako was that when something is meant to be, it will be.” My eyes locked onto Sam's and I remembered: that was exactly what Colonel Ryan had said.

This week we discuss Japan's new rules on age limits for children in opposite-sex onsen & a new app is being developed to help protect the human rights of foreign works in Japana.Word of the Week: バッシュ (basshu)This episode was recorded on September 25th 2021 in Akasaka, Tokyo.Join the discussion over on www.facebook.com/thisweekinjapanAlso, check out our "Japan Go!" YouTube Channel at youtube.com/japango

How do we think about our customers?  How authentic are our communications as a result?  Are we telling enough stories about them?  In this week's show, we will see how a master of communication does it.   I am sure you have you seen notices explaining that this location is going to close while the building is being reconstructed and that it will reopen at a specified day in the future?  One notice however has become much talked about locally amongst Japanese retailers.  Toraya are a famous traditional Japanese sweets manufacturer and retailer.  Mr. Mitsuhiro Kurokawa is the 17th generation of his family to lead the business and his “we are rebuilding” notice is considered outstanding, even in a country where omotenashi or unparalleled service is renowned.   Most such notices tell facts, supply relevant data, maps and provide the obligatory greetings about serving us again when they reopen.  Kurokawa san did all of that but much more.  He put the current change in historical perspective, noting the business started in Kyoto in 1586, moving to Tokyo in 1869 and to this location in 1964.  By doing this he is assuring us of their long traditions, longevity and capacity to change with the times when needed.   He then started to tell some stories about the customers they have had at this shop on Aoyama Street in Akasaka, over the last 51 years.  What stories are you currently telling to your clients?   He mentioned that every three days, a male customer visited the shop to enjoy oshiruko     (bean paste sweet soup with grilled mochi).  Another customer, a kindergarten aged boy came with his mother to the shop every day and bought a bite sized yookan   (sweet bean paste block).  A 100 year old lady regularly came by wheelchair to the shop.  She later became hospitalized and her family came to buy namagashi   (fresh Japanese sweets) and higashi    (a dried sugar sweet), to take to the hospital for her.  Even after she couldn't eat anything anymore, they found if they crushed the dried sugar sweet she could still enjoy it.   He mentioned that he couldn't include all of the episodes they have shared over these 51 years with their customers, but he said he and the staff keep them, one by one, in their hearts forever.   Telling customer stories is powerful.  Kurokawa san made the customers experiences come alive and he subtly linked them to the products they enjoyed.  The feeling of the notice is that there is a special bond they feel with all of their customers and even though they won't reopen on that site for another three years, they won't have forgotten them and look forward to serving them forever.   Are we communicating we feel a special bond with our customers?  Are we weaving enough customer stories into our communications?   Kurokawa san's notice gets attention in Japan because of the sincerity in the message.  He is regarded as really epitomising the spirit of a family that has served customers for 17 generations.   We may not be the 17th generation in our business, but we can bring more heart into the service we provide our customers.      Action Steps   Are we really thinking about creating an emotional connection with our clients Are we telling enough happy client stories in our communications Are we fully aware of the content of all the touch points we have with our buyers Are we serving from the heart or just the head Are we instilling the right frame of reference into our staff, regarding how to properly serve the client.

This week we discuss the growing worldwide popularity of Matcha powder and how the industry in Japan is adapting to meet demand.Word of the Week: 親ガチャ (oyagacha)This episode was recorded on September 17th 2021 in Akasaka, Tokyo.Join the discussion over on www.facebook.com/thisweekinjapanAlso, check out our "Japan Go!" YouTube Channel at youtube.com/japango

This week we discuss Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's decision to step down after only one year on the job and a high school in Kumamoto Prefecture will be opening the first-ever manga course for students.Word of the Week: フラグ (furagu)This episode was recorded on September 10th 2021 in Akasaka, Tokyo.Check out our "Japan Go!" YouTube Channel at youtube.com/japango

This week we discuss the underdog Sumo Wrestler, Shounan-zakura, who finally called it a day after a record breaking losing streak of 104 matches and Bandai's popular Gunpla (Gundam Plastic) aims to cut waste and create products from more recycled plastic.Word of the Week: 逆ギレ (gyaku-gire)This episode was recorded on September 3rd 2021 in Akasaka, Tokyo.Check out our "Japan Go!" YouTube Channel at youtube.com/japango

This week we discuss the crazy seasonal weather in Japan and how Golf is becoming the new sporting trend for young Japanese adults.Word of the Week:銀バラ (Gin-bara)This episode was recorded on August 20th 2021 in Akasaka, TokyoCheck out our "Japan Go!" YouTube Channel at youtube.com/japango

This week dive into the many stories surround the Tokyo 2020 games, including Japan's impressive medal haul and a Mayor in Nagoya who is under fire for chomping on a gold medal!Word of the Week:陰キャ (in-kya)陽キャ (you-kya)This episode was recorded on August 6th 2021 in Akasaka, TokyoCheck out our "Japan Go!" YouTube Channel at youtube.com/japango

In this episode, we discuss multiple scandals involving Olympic contributors, TeamLabs Digital Art Museum becoming the most visited in the world & a Ugandan weightlifter who went on the run, hoping to remain in Japan.Due to a glitch in the recording, unfortunately, there will be no 'Word of the Week' for this episode.This episode was recorded on July 23rd, 2021 in Akasaka, TokyoSupport the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thisweekinjapan)

In this episode, we discuss "Giant floating head appears in the sky of Tokyo" and "IOC Chairman refers to Japanese as 'Chinese'".Word of the Week: マンツーマン (Man-tsuu-man)This episode was recorded on July 16th, 2021 in Akasaka, TokyoSupport the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thisweekinjapan)

In this episode, we discuss a suspected molester who jumped from a bridge at Shibuya Station, Tokyo Olympics is to be held without spectators, and Sushi Ninja busted for industrial espionage. Word of the Week: メリケン (Meri-ken)This episode was recorded on July 9nd, 2021 in Akasaka, TokyoSupport the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thisweekinjapan)

Covid is raging again, but we can see the end, be it this year or next year. It will finally stop being our total focus.  So many lives, livelihoods and businesses have been destroyed by this pandemic.  Ali Bab is a nice little French Restaurant near my office in Akasaka that has been closed since January.  Will they be able to reopen?  Hopefully they and many other businesses will do so and we can all get back to some semblance of normality.    That means we will see an uptick in business activity as consumer demand is reignited.  In that mix we will see the re-booting of the “war for talent”.  Many bosses have been weighing the cost of losing staff against the gain in cash flow, through lowering one of the biggest expenses in business – people.  Some businesses may have to re-hire staff they laid off, if they can, or find replacements. All of this activity is likely to happen roughly around the same time, so there could be a hiring frenzy.  Recruiters will start calling your best people to offer them new employment opportunities somewhere else.  The two big questions are why would new people join you and why would your people stay?   There is a lot more information available about businesses today than ever before and prospective employees will likely search out news, gossip and background on your company.  Japanese people are serious about their work and they have not absorbed the Western ways of job hopping, that are so prevalent in our societies.  They don't move around much, so if they are going to join you, they are likely to be thinking they will stay with you forever or at least for many, many years.  Coming on board is a major decision. Now as employers, what messages are we giving out to the world via our website, social media and word of mouth about our firm and what it is like to work there?   One of the key reasons we can keep our people is the internal culture we leaders have built.  They can get more money and better working conditions somewhere else perhaps, but not the culture.  Culture build is about authenticity, maintaining and living stated values and boss communication skills.  This is expensive.  Why?  Because to build the culture and to be consistent in maintaining it, takes up the most expensive and valuable resource in any company – boss time.  This is why most companies don't make the necessary investment.  Leaders imagine that culture build is someone else's responsibility, say in the HR department or over there in marketing and PR.  Big mistake.   The leader gets the culture they deserve.  If the time is not invested, then nothing magical is going to happen and there won't be much going on in the way of differentiation.  As bosses, we think we have given the message clearly and it has been received.  The thing that is always amazing is how little of the message actually sinks in.  You tell the team something and then in short order, you find they don't get it.  Here is the time factor again.  “Efficient” bosses will message once and just move on to their next meeting.    Culture building bosses know they have to bang that drum continuously for it to sink in.  I read somewhere that ad creatives get sick of their own ads a lot faster than those who are consuming them.  It can be the same with our messaging – we get sick of it before the troops do.  We have to get the key messages out again and again and in different formats, because people are wired differently in how they absorb information.   This communication discussion is not limited to just internal recipients.  How much effort and time is the leader allocating to getting the key messages out to the world, to prospective employees.  We often make the mistake of putting some colourless message on the website on the “President Greeting” page.  It reads like pap, sounds like pap and is pap.  Are we talking about the culture, the values, how we think about our people and are we doing it in an authentic voice?  The PR department may be thinking only about shareholders when writing the content, but with the talent war looming, it might be a good idea to compose some fresh messaging to appeal to new employees.   The internal culture has to be real and we have to be congruent.  It can't be a corporate Potemkin village of sublime wonder, when the workplace reality is actually more reminiscent of a Gulag.  Internal and external realities have to match up.  This takes time – that word again!  Most leaders have been scrabbling around since February 2020 trying to fathom how to survive.  Now is the time to attract great new staff, who through no fault of their own have been tossed into the street.  It is also the time to build or refine an unassailable culture which no unprincipled, eagle eyed, silver tongued, dreamy looking recruiter can easily pry your best people from.  If you already have a great culture, then get to work letting everyone know about it. Get out there and shout it from the rooftops of social media, so all can hear your siren call of “this is a great place to work, because you will love the culture here”.

In this episode,  we discuss the delayed rainy season in Japan, the Mt. Fuji reopening for the first time in two years, and the Japanese government officials turned into anime characters.Word of the Week: イメチェン (Ime-chen)This episode was recorded on July 2nd, 2021 in Akasaka, TokyoSupport the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thisweekinjapan)

In this episode,  we discuss Emperor Naruhito's unconventional, personal statement regarding the Olympics and the Japanese Government's new guidelines to make 4-day working weeks the new normal.Word of the Week: ペアルック (Pair Look)This episode was recorded on June 25th, 2021 in Akasaka, TokyoSupport the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thisweekinjapan)

In this episode,  we discuss the controversies in Japan over a new app that allows you to check the authenticity of a foreigner's residence card with a smartphone.Word of the Week: ブラインドタッチ (blind touch)This episode was recorded on June 18th, 2021 in Akasaka, TokyoSupport the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thisweekinjapan)

1) Haru o Daite Ita ALIVE (Embracing Love ALIVE) by Nitta Youka  @saruboboko - unlicensed2) Old-fashioned Cupcake by Sagan Sagan @wofjfh - unlicensed3) Happy Kuso (Shitty) Life by Harada @harada_info - Coolmic (new since time of recording)4) Koi o Suru Tsumori wa Nakatta (I Didn't Mean to Fall in Love) by Suzumaru Minta @__bell_minta - Futekiya5) 25ji, Akasaka de (At 25:00 in Akasaka) by Natsuno Hito @natsunohiro - Futekiya6) Fujimi no Meinichi (Fall of an Immortal) by Mushiba @64ba_a - Futekiya7) Shinnai naru Gene e (Dear Gene) by Azuma Kaya @azuma_kaya - unlicensed8) Achira Kochira Bokura (no Arekara to Korekara) by Thanat @sonokitomajima - unlicensed9) Shigatsu no Tokyo wa (Tokyo in April) by Haru @gender1004 - unlicensed10) Given by Kizu Natsuki @kizu_ntk - SuBLime11) Sonna ni Iu Nara Daite Yaru (~I'll hold you if you say so) by Niyama @niyamabl - unlicensed 12) Meppou Yatara to Yowaki ni Kiss (~Absurdly, recklessly, and timidly kiss) by Koshino @kosino_j - unlicensed13) Ookami e no Yomeiri ~Ishu Konintan~  (Marriage to the Wolf: the Tale of an Inter-species Union) by Inui Hana @Hana_Inui - Futekiya14) Kaniteki (Simplified) Pervert Romance by Sekihara Neg @sekinghara - Futekiya15) Itsuka Koi ni Naru Made by Kurahashi Tomo (Someday I'll Fall for You) @oishi_otoufu - Renta16) Coyote by Zariya Ranmaru @zaria_ranmaru - SuBLime17) Blue Sky Complex by Ichikawa Kei @k_ickw - unlicensed18) Sukebe no Seishun (~Perverted Youth) by Hata Takashi @hata_butter - unlicensed19) Cupid ni Rakurai Tsuigeki (~Thunderbolt from Cupid) by Suzumaru Minta @__bell_minta - unlicensed20) Anti-Romance by Hidaka Shoko @hidaka_shoko - unlicensed

Welcome back to This Week In Japan!News Story of the Week: Japanese Entrepreneur Plans Journey To The MoonWord of the Week: 天下り (Coming down from the Heaven)Important Announcement regarding our Podcast[Japanese Explanation]This Week In Japanでは毎週、日本で話題のニュースについて、イギリス人アーティストのJulianと日本人起業家のYasuが英語で意見を交わしています。他にも日本文化や、面白い日本語のフレーズを紹介しています。(Recorded on March 12th, 2021, in Akasaka, Tokyo)You can also find Julian and Yasu on YouTube at youtube.com/JapanProSupport the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thisweekinjapan)

Welcome back to This Week In Japan!News Story of the Week: Popular Manga Character Catches COVID-19Word of the Week: ベア (Be-a)[Japanese Explanation]This Week In Japanでは毎週、日本で話題のニュースについて、イギリス人アーティストのJulianと日本人起業家のYasuが英語で意見を交わしています。他にも日本文化や、面白い日本語のフレーズを紹介しています。(Recorded on February 26th, 2021, in Akasaka, Tokyo)You can also find Julian and Yasu on YouTube at youtube.com/JapanProSupport the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thisweekinjapan)

Welcome back to This Week In Japan!News Story of the Week: A Massive Earthquake Rattles Tohoku Region and Eastern JapanFeatured Story of the Week: Netflix to offer full-scholarships open to foreigners at Tokyo anime schoolWord of the Week: Various new kinds of harassments[Japanese Explanation]This Week In Japanでは毎週、日本で話題のニュースについて、イギリス人アーティストのJulianと日本人起業家のYasuが英語で意見を交わしています。他にも日本文化や、面白い日本語のフレーズを紹介しています。(Recorded on February 19th, 2021, in Akasaka, Tokyo)You can also find Julian and Yasu on YouTube at youtube.com/JapanProSupport the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thisweekinjapan)

Welcome back to This Week In Japan!News Story of the Week: Clubhouse App Is Making Big Waves In JapanFeatured Story of the Week: Ramen-Loving Researcher Discovers Tonkotsu Absorbs RadiationWord of the Week: 意識高い系 (Ishiki-takai-kei)[Japanese Explanation]This Week In Japanでは毎週、日本で話題のニュースについて、イギリス人アーティストのJulianと日本人起業家のYasuが英語で意見を交わしています。他にも日本文化や、面白い日本語のフレーズを紹介しています。(Recorded on February 12th, 2021, in Akasaka, Tokyo)You can also find Julian and Yasu on YouTube at youtube.com/JapanProThumbnail Image Sourced From: 9to5mac.comSupport the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thisweekinjapan)Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thisweekinjapan)

Welcome back to This Week In Japan!News Story of the Week: President of Tokyo Olympics Committee Under Fire for Comments Towards WomenFeatured Story of the Week: News rules are given to fan artists and cosplayersWord of the Week: ぴえん (Pie-n)[Japanese Explanation]This Week In Japanでは毎週、日本で話題のニュースについて、イギリス人アーティストのJulianと日本人起業家のYasuが英語で意見を交わしています。他にも日本文化や、面白い日本語のフレーズを紹介しています。(Recorded on February 6th, 2021, in Akasaka, Tokyo)You can also find Julian and Yasu on YouTube at youtube.com/JapanProSupport the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thisweekinjapan)

Welcome back to This Week In Japan!News Story of the Week: Japan Aims to Vaccinate Around 75% of Country by OctoberFeatured Story of the Week: Pandemic Fuels Rice Consumption in JapanWord of the Week: 朝ラー (Asa-raa)[Japanese Explanation]This Week In Japanでは毎週、日本で話題のニュースについて、イギリス人アーティストのJulianと日本人起業家のYasuが英語で意見を交わしています。他にも日本文化や、面白い日本語のフレーズを紹介しています。(Recorded on January 29nd, 2021, in Akasaka, Tokyo)You can also find Julian and Yasu on YouTube at youtube.com/JapanProSupport the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thisweekinjapan)

Welcome back to This Week In Japan!Main Story of the Week: Japan Rules Against Dual CitizenshipFeatured News Story: Silent Eating Is Trending In JapanWord of The Week: リアタイ (Ria-tai)[Japanese Explanation]This Week In Japanでは毎週、日本で話題のニュースについて、イギリス人アーティストのJulianと日本人起業家のYasuが英語で意見を交わしています。他にも日本文化や、面白い日本語のフレーズを紹介しています。(Recorded on January 22nd, 2021, in Akasaka, Tokyo)You can find Julian and Yasu on YouTube at youtube.com/JapanProSupport the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thisweekinjapan)

作为港区的一个町地，赤坂是优雅之地的代名词。过去，它紧邻江户城，拥有赤坂离宫、高级公寓和神社。现今，众多米其林星级餐厅、奢华酒店和公司本社汇聚于此，富人和精英阶层常留驻于此。坐落在赤坂辽阔境地的神社是热门的传统婚礼举办地，在新年期间，也常有附近各大经纪公司和唱片公司的艺人前来祈祷事业顺利。As a town in Minato City, Akasaka is synonymous with an elegant place. In the past, it was close to Edo Castle and contained the Akasaka Palace, high-end apartments and shrines. Now, many Michelin-starred restaurants, luxury hotels and corporate headquarters are gathered here, and the rich and elites often stay here. There are several shrines in an open area of Akasaka, which is a popular place for traditional weddings. During the New Year, artists from nearby agencies and record companies often come to pray and hope that the career goes well.与我们互动，请关注我们的 Twitter 和 微博 @Tokyo_StationGhost like girlfriend - fallin'现可于以下平台收听 TOKYO STATIONS：Anchor, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Pocket Casts, Overcast, Castbox, 小宇宙, 网易云音乐, 荔枝, 喜马拉雅, 皮艇 and more.主播：黄大姐，秦老板，方枪枪，小狐狸设计：哦小普编辑：哦小普剪辑：哦小普，秦老板监制：哦小普© ℗ 2021 (kbys) studio in Tokyo, Japan

作为港区的一个町地，赤坂是优雅之地的代名词。过去，它紧邻江户城，拥有赤坂离宫、高级公寓和神社。现今，众多米其林星级餐厅、奢华酒店和公司本社汇聚，富人和精英阶层常留驻于此。坐落在赤坂辽阔境地的神社是热门的传统婚礼举办地，在新年期间，也常有附近各大经纪公司和唱片公司的艺人前来祈祷事业顺利。 As a town in Minato City, Akasaka is synonymous with an elegant place. In the past, it was close to Edo Castle and contained the Akasaka Palace, high-end apartments and shrines. Now, many Michelin-starred restaurants, luxury hotels and corporate headquarters are gathered here, and the rich and elites often stay here. There are several shrines in an open area of Akasaka, which is a popular place for traditional weddings. During the New Year, artists from nearby agencies and record companies often come to pray and hope that the career goes well.

Welcome back to This Week In Japan!Main Story of the Week: 2nd State of Emergency causes Big Setbacks for the Japanese Entertainment IndustryFeatured News Story: Sapporo’s Newest Beer Label Error Leads to Controversy and ConfusionWord of The Week: Roke-han (ロケハン)[Japanese Explanation]This Week In Japanでは毎週、日本で話題のニュースについて、イギリス人アーティストのJulianと日本人起業家のYasuが英語で意見を交わしています。他にも日本文化や、面白い日本語のフレーズを紹介しています。(Recorded on January 15th, 2021, in Akasaka, Tokyo)* Nintendo Owns the Copyright of the Thumbnail ImageYou can find Julian and Yasu on YouTube at youtube.com/JapanProSupport the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thisweekinjapan)